Fan of Colorado’s system for picking judges speaks out

Every year around this time callers want to know how come party affiliations for judges aren’t listed on the ballot.

The reason goes back to 1966 and Mary Blue, a former lawmaker, RTD board member and Longmont City Councilwoman, witnessed it. She’s a huge fan of the current system.

Her father, Conrad Ball of Loveland, was on the board of the Colorado Bar Association at the time, and he worked with others to get voters to approve the so-called Missouri system for selecting judges.

“I was busy raising small children at the time, but since my dad couldn’t type, I recall typing many letters for him in that campaign,” Blue said in an e-mail.

Under the Missouri system, judges don’t run for their party’s nominations, raise money or wage campaigns as they do in many states. When there is an opening on the bench a vacancy commission forwards names to the governor, who picks the new judge. The appointees, after serving two years on the bench, are up for retention at the next general election, and thereafter whenever their terms expire. Voters simply decide “yes” or “no” on whether a judge should stay.

Blue said that in 1969 her father applied for a District Court judgeship in Larimer County. The nominating commission recommended him for the post and he was appointed by Gov. John Love, a Republican. (Ball was a Democrat).

“My father served in that capacity nearly until his death in 1989. His scores compiled by the retention committees were very high,” Blue recalled.

She was appointed by Democratic Gov. Roy Romer as a lay person to serve on the Supreme Court nominating commission, a post she held for six years.

“The first vacancy we nominated Becky Kourlis, a District Court judge from Craig and John Love’s daughter, and Gov. Romer selected her — a Democrat selecting a Republican,” Blue said.

“It was my experience on that panel that partisan politics never entered the conversation among us or during the interviews. There’s no party affiliation on the application form, and it’s not known unless one knows by other sources. It was by far the most non-partisan effort I’ve ever been involved in,” Blue said.

At least two groups are involved this year in efforts aimed at judicial retentions:

* CourtsNoPlaceforPolitics.org supports the current system, and talks about all the attack ads Coloradans would be seeing if special-interest groups were trying to defeat or elect a certain judge.

* Clear the Bench Colorado has advocated ousting the three Supreme Court justices up for retention this election, saying “repeated rulings by Colorado’s Supreme Court … have demonstrated their contempt for the very Constitution they are sworn to uphold.”

I wonder how Judges Blair and Gilmore in Larimer County are doing. I hope the voters remember the Tim Masters travesty of justice they perpetuated.

ExPat ExLawyer

Yes, David, exactly. And let’s make sure to point out that the circumscribed criteria used by the Commission lead to these two losers getting “retain” recommendations. In fact, over 99 percent of the judges are given a “retain” recommendation. Calling a rubber stamp system a “merit” system turns the English language on its head.

No one I know, including Clear the Bench, is talking about scrapping the MO system – we want it reformed and made more accountable. I advocate as a start grading on a curve and giving no-retains to the bottom ranked 10 percent of the judges (voters would still be free to retain these judges). I would open the process of selection so the public is given access to the nominees and the applicants. Presently, we only find out the identity of the final three. The three Supreme Court finalists’ contact information is then given out, but none of them would answer questions from the media – no questions at all.

I think 90 percent getting passes is more than generous. Colorado judgeships do not by and large draw the best and the brightest from the bar. Most of them are DAs who jive with the governor. Anybody who thinks an appointment by a governor is non-political is either a liar or too naive to have his or her opinion taken seriously.

Davidjohnson813

I wonder how Judges Blair and Gilmore in Larimer County are doing. I hope the voters remember the Tim Masters travesty of justice they perpetuated.

ExPat ExLawyer

Yes, David, exactly. And let’s make sure to point out that the circumscribed criteria used by the Commission lead to these two losers getting “retain” recommendations. In fact, over 99 percent of the judges are given a “retain” recommendation. Calling a rubber stamp system a “merit” system turns the English language on its head.

No one I know, including Clear the Bench, is talking about scrapping the MO system – we want it reformed and made more accountable. I advocate as a start grading on a curve and giving no-retains to the bottom ranked 10 percent of the judges (voters would still be free to retain these judges). I would open the process of selection so the public is given access to the nominees and the applicants. Presently, we only find out the identity of the final three. The three Supreme Court finalists’ contact information is then given out, but none of them would answer questions from the media – no questions at all.

I think 90 percent getting passes is more than generous. Colorado judgeships do not by and large draw the best and the brightest from the bar. Most of them are DAs who jive with the governor. Anybody who thinks an appointment by a governor is non-political is either a liar or too naive to have his or her opinion taken seriously.

ExPat ExLawyer

Yes, David, exactly. And let’s make sure to point out that the circumscribed criteria used by the Commission lead to these two losers getting “retain” recommendations. In fact, over 99 percent of the judges are given a “retain” recommendation. Calling a rubber stamp system a “merit” system turns the English language on its head.

No one I know, including Clear the Bench, is talking about scrapping the MO system – we want it reformed and made more accountable. I advocate as a start grading on a curve and giving no-retains to the bottom ranked 10 percent of the judges (voters would still be free to retain these judges). I would open the process of selection so the public is given access to the nominees and the applicants. Presently, we only find out the identity of the final three. The three Supreme Court finalists’ contact information is then given out, but none of them would answer questions from the media – no questions at all.

I think 90 percent getting passes is more than generous. Colorado judgeships do not by and large draw the best and the brightest from the bar. Most of them are DAs who jive with the governor. Anybody who thinks an appointment by a governor is non-political is either a liar or too naive to have his or her opinion taken seriously.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508889246 Nick Werle

yes they were Recommended! but we were fortunate – the public can read.

Davidjohnson813

I wonder how Judges Blair and Gilmore in Larimer County are doing. I hope the voters remember the Tim Masters travesty of justice they perpetuated.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FFRP7IIE6SWETUDNXRS25CY6HU Jack Napier

The issue is not so much in how we choose our judges as how we hold them accountable for corruption and willful misconduct on the bench. The primary advantage in judicial elections is that an opponent will be highly motivated to expose corruption and misconduct. In Colorado, the corruption is outrageous, but no one has the juice to bring it to the attention of the public.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508889246 Nick Werle

bartels avoids the main issue, are retention polls useful?

in only one case have judges been thrown out and that was the ft collins cade of the innocent guy in prison when they judges had been DAs.

Lastmorseman2002

To the extent politics has affected the process, it Should be stamped out like a virus. Politics has no place in judicial retention elections. Shame on those who invite political bias and prejudice into the system. This often comes from new comers to Colorado who decide they are going to straighten Coloradoans out and teach us how to get things done –ie, from the states where politics gives people the best justice money can buy.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.